Ford Analyst: Hybrids bad for US economy

Oh, my goodness! I had no idea that I was causing the downfall of civilization as we know it. I feel so ashamed, so guilty, so........dirty!

NOT!

Too, too funny. I think he doth protest too much.

 

Yes, getting off heroin is also bad for the US economy.

Detroit has been feeding at the trough for too long where oil is always substituted for knowledge. No mention of air quaility, sprawl and unsustainable growth, exporting capital and dollars to other countries and ostentatious living.

Hybrids are not "thee answer," but an incremental step in the right direction. Next is PHEV tied to photovoltaics and the grid with an emphasis on the local economy. We need more emphasis on local economies for food, transportation, housing, business and education. For too long corporate, short-term thinking has dictated our thinking.

Kunstler's The Long Emergency points out that US oil production peaked in the early 1970s. Oil is finite. Why not reserve our remaining hydrocarbons for medicine and necessary things. We live locally and need to focus and support foods grown locally, not expect fresh produce to be shipped in year round from Chile.

Time to look up from the feeding trough. Hybrids are an indicator of economic change - to more sustainable ways of living.

 

ok.... read the article and thought i was redirected to comedy central for a second there. :blink:


my insurance rates (i will renew my policy april 4) are the lowest i have ever had. this is with a $250 deductible (lowest i have had in at least 15 years)

in fact, the reason i am getting collision (after 20 months of having minimum coverage) is because its become very affordable. so saying the Prius has higher rates is completely wrong

 

Im trading a VW New Beetle for a Toyota Prius.... Im going from a German car concieved and designed by Adolf Hitler to a Japanese car designed by people who could probally make our NASA scientists look dumb.... God Bless Detroit and American ingenuity

 

with his reasoning, wouldnt surprise me in the least to find out his cars are built in Mexico

 

I wouldn't give them that much credit. I love my Prius, but let's not get delusions of Grandeur.

I'm not even gonna read the article. I think that it or something very like it was already posted here. It's the same old recylced (at least they're recycling) BS that holds as much water as a sieve. It's just the luddites whining. They're just a footnote in automotive history.

 

I would geve the bright folks at toyota that much credit over nasa... nasa has gotten lethargic and uninspiring in recent years... and the rehashed apollo program leaves me doubtful...

 

Heh, luddite is the perfect term to describe this person!

 

I won't read the article either. The entire premise is so ludicrous I figured I'd save myself the time. I just got back from a weekend in Florida where we rented an 06 Impala with the V6 powerplant. Over 250 miles of highway and urban driving and we got 16.9 mpg. Detroit iron at its best. Yeah... gimme a f*&^%g break.

 

Another anti-hybrid Iddiot has been let loose on the public... :angry:

I refuse to read the article also....

 

Actually, NASA isn't the one to blame so much as the fact that they really haven't had any clear goals set for them in a long time and are constantly facing funding cuts from Congress.

Also, a lot of the sprectular stuff is done. Sending robot probes is a lot safer and also more cost effective but doesn't generate the same headlines. This contributes to even more funding reductions to do the bleeding edge stuff.

We, as a people, are not willing to make the kinds of investments necessary to keep NASA on the edge of space sciences. This is sad because the money spent on space technology has returned to us in new science and technology that would never have come to fruition had it not been for the challenge made by JFK to "put a man on the moon". Similarly we as a people, subject to the political whims of the politicians, are not willing to make the kind of long term investment necessary to get people out of cars by creating the public transit infrastructure that is required for future growth. We continue forward towards a day when we will be living in a beautiful world shrouded in a blue-grey haze and with plants having multi-hued leaves as they adapt to the results of the latest "Clean Air Act".

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. h34r:

 

Why would I want a Ford? They don't make what we all have on this site. 50+ MPG. Toyota reputation & quality plus better resale. Is Ford serious?

 

I have seen Ray Windecker's article before. He is a Detroit cheerleader and a total dumb nice person. He is not a journalist

 

Nice response to Ray Windbagger. Sounds like he's a wannabe lobbyist for Ford.

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=17151&st=20

I like the summary on Hybrid News and bottom line comparisons.

 

Maybe while he's trying to start another "red scare", Mr. Windecker should analyze what's going to happen when his morally and financially bankrupt former employer forces the Federal and State Governments to pick up the tab for the pensions, insurance, wages, etc of the people who they are going to shitcan because of their shortsightedness and idiocy.

Plus, I don't think the hybrids in the US are costing billions of dollars a day... nor do I think that the costs of any subsidies provided to hybrid owners could even come close to the cost of the pensions that the Federal Government is going to take over after Ford gives its employees the shaft.

The automotive industry has gotten fat and lazy off of our tax dollars for years. What's his next stroke-of-genius assertion... that pollution controls don't break even and should be abandoned? Maybe that we're going to accelerate global warming because of all the thermal energy generated by the computer equipment in a Prius... Maybe that us being able to have a Prius is going to make people who don't have one feel bad and therefore nobody should be allowed to have one... Maybe the Government should issue Prius to lower class people, and force anyone who actually has a job to buy an SUV to provide further subsidies to the Oil, Steel, and Automotive industries...

:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

Idiotic nonsense.

 

It would be nice to think that Ford or GM or even an American start-up company could produce a Prius II. It has been pointed out by many that an automobile is basically a THOUGHT or an IDEA.

The US remains innovative in many ways, including some that are widely beneficial and some that aren't--as in the US's emphasis on weapons technology. Rather than carping about where the Prius II hails from, it would be better to THINK about ways to improve individualized transport in the near and mid-term future.

There's much to be done, not just in 'green' terms, although those are vital. I remain convinced that it should be possilbe to come with automobiles that do not require a driver or a steering wheel. Sort of an advance on the Prius's voice-command system. Instead of merely giving directions after one says an "address" the next step ahead should be that of the car driving you to that destination without you having to steer, brake, slow-down or anything else.

Why can't the good folks at Ford just shut up and get to work on advancing the state of the art, rather than complaining about products that they cannnot currently match?

onward

 

Ok, I am willing to allow that the Prius is more expensive initially. From there, though, I have difficulties with the article. One might also say that SUV's will be the downfall of the US economy (and the ecology, to boot!)

 

I imagine the un-retracted Consumer Reports story would be right near this guy's desk, while the retraction will be conveniently ignored...